


You Are the Only Exception

by CydSA



Category: CW Network RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-21
Updated: 2013-02-21
Packaged: 2017-12-04 00:54:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/704598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CydSA/pseuds/CydSA
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jensen wasn’t expecting Jared to come. So he wasn’t disappointed when he wasn’t there. It should have been the biggest night of Jensen’s life, but all he wanted was one more chance to tell Jared that he’d been wrong.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You Are the Only Exception

**Author's Note:**

> Beta by the lovely nantucket_sock
> 
> Title is by Paramore
> 
> Written for the J2noauchallenge

He wasn’t coming. Jensen swallowed hard over the disappointment that stuck in his throat. Jared wasn’t coming, and no matter what happened here tonight, Jensen had lost.

“I’m sorry, Jen.” Danneel put a hand on his arm.

He shrugged. “I didn’t really think he’d come.” He tried a smile, but it felt wrong on his face.

Danni patted his arm, mouth twisted in a sort of sympathy that he really didn’t want to deal with right now. “Maybe the invitation got lost.”

Jensen shook his head. “No, he got it.” He sighed. “I left it too long, too late.” He scrubbed a hand over his face. “The ceremony will be starting soon. We should go inside, maybe get a drink before we sit down.”

Danni looked at him, her eyes worried. “I really _am_ sorry, Jen.” 

Jensen nodded. “It’s my fuck-up.” He kissed her cheek. “Thanks for being here, Danni.” She’d been his friend, his wife, his ex and back to his friend again, and he was truly grateful to have her in his life.

“Hey, you know me, babe.” She indicated her dress. “Any excuse to be on a red carpet.”

He took her hand and tucked it into the crook of his elbow. “Well, let’s parade you, and that truly epic dress, around for a while until the show starts, shall we?”

She let him lead her into the bar area where several of the other nominees stopped and congratulated him.

“Looks like most people think you’re a shoo-in for this.” Danni nodded her thanks to the waitress who brought them each a glass of champagne.

“No such thing,” Jensen waggled his glass at her. “Now stop jinxing me.”

She laughed. “Please, this is one year where Best Director has been known since November.”

Jensen felt the back of his neck heat up. “Yeah, don’t get too cocky, Danni. I’ll probably end up being one of the polite losers applauding the winner. You know, the one with the frozen face as the camera pans to him?”

Danni laughed again. “Not going to happen, sweetie. I didn’t wear this dress and these heels to be the beard slash date of the runner up.” Her eyes were soft. “Jen, you’re going to win this and get up there and thank the Academy, and then you’re going to get on a plane to Texas and knock some sense into your boy.”

“He’s not my boy.” The correction was automatic. Seven years since the end of Supernatural, six years since they’d talked. Jared hadn’t been his boy for a very long time.

“Shut the fuck up.” Danni’s no-nonsense tone made Jensen smile. “He’s always been your boy, asshole. Even when he was too chicken-shit to tell you.”

Jensen rubbed his hand over his mouth. “I was just as much of a coward,” he reminded her.

“Hey!” She held up a perfectly manicured hand. “It’s part of my job to be _your_ cheerleader, babe. Jared can get his own.”

Jensen grinned. “How come we didn’t get divorced sooner?”

She laughed and shrugged. “Money, fame, stupidity. Take your pick.”

Jensen drank his champagne and let Danni tell him about her latest attempt at stardom. He loved that despite her rather epic failure to become a household name, she was still as determined to be famous as the day he’d first met her.

Then he heard someone call his name. It was a voice he hadn’t heard in years. “Jenny!” Jensen turned just in time to be engulfed in the long arms of Chad Michael Murray.

“Who the fuck let you in?” Danni demanded, but she was beaming. She’d never had the same experiences with Chad that most of his leading ladies had. She certainly hadn’t slept with him.

“Eh, they let all sorts of riff-raff in these days, Danni-girl.” Chad released Jensen and scooped Danni up in a hug.

“Put my girl down,” Jensen ordered, and Chad looked at him with a raised eyebrow. 

“ _Your_ girl, huh?” He let Danni go and faced Jensen. “Something change in the last few years that you’re into chicks now?”

“Chad!” Danni kicked him in the ankle, and he yelped, skipping away from the lethal spikes of her heels.

“Still an evil bitch then, Danni?” he asked.

“Still a crude douche then, Murray?” she replied, and they grinned at each other.

“So, where’s your date?” Jensen looked around. Chad never attended anything stag.

Chad waved in the general direction of the crowd. “Schmoozing in there somewhere.” He looked at Jensen. “You’re looking good, Jenny.”

“Don’t call me that, asshole.” Jensen tried to scowl, but it was just too good to see Chad again. He’d missed his irreverent, couldn’t-give-a-fuck attitude. Maybe if he’d had some of that, he wouldn’t be where he was right now.

“So, Best Director nominee, man?” Chad beamed at him. “Look at how fucking far you’ve come since Days of Our Lives, Ackles.”

Jensen felt his cheeks heat up. “I’ve certainly done it the long way around.” He nodded at Steven Spielberg walking past and grinned when he received a nod back. “Still have to pinch myself occasionally to make sure that this isn’t all a Dean Winchester dream.”

Danni took his hand. “You’re the real deal, babe. Someone who started at the bottom and worked your way up that fucking evil ladder. Without compromising who you are.”

Jensen’s smile was a little sad. “Almost without compromise.” His voice was soft but Danni caught it.

“You did what you thought was the right thing, Jen.”

Chad put a hand on Jensen’s shoulder. “Hindsight is 20/20, man. Let it go. You can’t change the past.” 

Jensen nodded, bemused at Chad being reassuring about his fuck-up with Jared. He was about to ask how Jared was when the lights dimmed. “Time to go.” He felt a little sick because he wasn’t sure how much meaning tonight had without Jared there.

Danni tugged his hand. “Time to become a legend.”

Chad let Jensen go. “Time to get what you deserve.”

And there was something serious in his voice that Jensen couldn’t’ quite decipher. Then the moment was gone and he was inside the Kodak Theatre, looking down at rows and rows of seats filled with people he’d idolized for a very long time.

“Mr. Ackles?” A girl in a waistcoat and bow tie smiled at him. “Would you follow me please?”

He let Danni take the lead as they headed down row after row until they were so close to the stage that Jensen wondered if they were going to end up sitting on it.

“Your seats.” The girl indicated two seats on the aisle of the third row. “Enjoy the show.”

“Thanks,” Jensen murmured.

“And good luck,” she said. “I hope you win.”

He nodded and helped Danni arrange her dress as she sat down. He sat on the aisle seat and watched as the glittery throng of Hollywood’s elite drifted to their various places. 

“You know what this means, right?” Danni whispered.

He looked at her. “What?”

“It means that you’re going to win.” Danni’s smile was all teeth and glee. “This close to the stage, on the aisle. Babe, they’re practically giving it to you on a silver platter.”

“Please.” Jensen closed his eyes. “I’m fucking terrified already, Danni. Don’t make it worse,” he begged.

“Sorry.” She grabbed his hand again. “I’m just so fucking proud of you, Jen.”

His smile was tight as the lights dipped again and the music started. He just prayed that he would make it through the night without puking his guts out on international television.

*************

“And that brings us to the second-last award for the night.” The crowd applauded as much for the fact that the ceremony was almost over. Ellen Degeneres smiled at them. “Shut up, I know why you’re clapping.”

The laughter rippled through the audience, and she waved her hands. “Seriously, don’t try to suck up to me now. I’m done with all of you.”

Jensen had enjoyed her acting as the host. She’d been funny and had kept things moving as quickly as possible on a night like this. There hadn’t been many hiccups and apart from only one wardrobe malfunction, things had run smoothly. However, he’d be okay never seeing Sean Penn’s dirty underwear ever again.

“Here to present the award for Best Director, we have last year’s winner, Steven Spielberg.” Ellen joined in the applause as Steven came onto the stage.

“Good evening.” 

Jensen felt every muscle in his body tense up. Danni squeezed his hand and then let him go. Jensen dug his fingers into the tops of his thighs, afraid of winning, afraid of losing, and missing Jared’s solid presence at his side like a heartbeat.

“I’m Steven Spielberg,” Steven announced in a deadpan, voice and everyone laughed. “I won the award for Best Director at last year’s Academy Awards.” The applause seemed to taper off quickly as he continued. “I’ve been in the business for a long time, and it’s good to see the new blood challenging the old.”

Jensen watched George Lucas scowl from his chair and mouth _not so much with the old_ , and he laughed. 

“This year’s crop of nominees for Best Director are a mixed bag of characters. Two are first-timers, the other three are former nominees and winners. They make movies that make us think, laugh, cry, cheer, and above all, we remember them. So I’m just going to get on with it then.” Steven cleared his throat and peered at the tele-prompter.

“For _All Fall Down_ , Martin Scorsese. For _Maddie Was a Lovely Girl_ , Tim Donovan. For _Silent Night_ , Quentin Tarantino. For _MarryFuckKill_ , Jensen Ackles. For _The End of Everything_ , Joel and Ethan Cohen.” He stopped and looked at the envelope. “And the winner is.”

Jensen felt as though the entire world was holding its breath as Spielberg ripped into the envelope. And then smiled in obvious delight.

“Jensen Ackles for _MarryFuckKill_!”

Jensen sat motionless as the applause and cheers broke out. He heard Danni’s screams as though from inside a bubble, and she pushed him out of his chair.

“Go and get your award, you moron!” Her words eventually penetrated, and he stared at her.

“I won?” 

Her face was wet with happy tears, and he lifted a hand to wipe them away.

“Go!” she ordered again. She kissed him hard and shoved at him again.

He stood up in a daze and stumbled towards the stage. He tripped a little on the steps and almost face-planted at Spielberg’s feet. He managed to right himself without making a complete ass of himself, but it was a close call.

Steven grabbed his hand and shook it. Then Steven turned to get the award from the current Miss Academy Awards, one of the Cohen brothers’ kids. He stopped and stepped away.

And Jensen saw Jared. 

His smile wasn’t the one Jensen remembered. It wasn’t wide and open and happy. It was an uncertain smile. A scared smile. It looked entirely wrong on Jared’s face. 

The applause had died down as the crowd realized the unusual appearance of one Jared Padalecki.

Steven Spielberg leaned down to the microphone. “So, we’re going a little off script here. This was semi-planned in case Jensen won.” He looked at Jared with a confused expression. “Ellen told me to just go with it if this happened.”

There were several small laughs from the audience, but it was still mostly silent. Jared held out the Oscar to Jensen.

“J?” Jensen whispered. “What the fuck?” 

Jared shook his head. “Later. Just take your Oscar and make your speech. I’m so fucking proud of you, man. We can talk about everything else, later.” His eyes pleaded for Jensen to follow his lead.

So he did.

He cleared his throat and took the little gold statue. It felt a lot heavier than it looked. Then he turned to the microphone.

“Okay, so that was unexpected.” He tried a smile and it seemed to work because the tension broke with a flutter of laughter around the room. “Jared Padalecki, everybody. Best friend, practical joker and he just couldn’t let me have the limelight all to myself.” He indicated a sheepish looking Jared and smiled. “Thanks buddy.”

Jared waved a hand and ducked his head. He stood next to Steven Spielberg, all six hundred feet of nervous Padalecki, and Jensen wanted to hurl himself at him. Nothing else mattered. Then Jared made a jerky motion towards the front of the stage and Jensen remembered that he had a speech to give.

“Shit!” He covered his mouth with his hand and laughed. “Sorry. I mean. Shoot.” The audience laughed. “Hey, I made a movie called _MarryFuckKill_ so saying shit can’t be that bad right?” He grinned. “I’m wondering how much bleeping is happening right now.” The laughter was a little louder this time.

“Okay, so this is the best kind of surprise.” He rubbed a thumb over the base of the statue. “I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for some very special people. My family, who pushed me to be the best. My ex-wife and good friend, who never lets me forget that she knows what I _actually_ look like in the morning.” He actually heard Danni’s snort giggle then. 

“The production team behind _MFK_ , Roadside Attractions, specifically Anne Rosselini and Alix Madigan, who gave support, and more importantly, money, to a first-timer. My agents, who insisted that I read this kick-ass script and then ordered me to make it.” 

He looked out at the crowd, many of whom he’d known for years. “I’ve been in this business for a long time. It’s all I know. I started in soap operas. Yeah, yeah, shut up all of you!” He grinned at the heckling. “Got a regular gig on some pretty cool television shows and then spent ten years on a little show called _Supernatural_.” He glanced over at Jared. “The producers gave me a shot directing a few episodes, and the rest, as they say, is history. Moving behind the camera was the easiest decision I ever made.”

He looked down at the orchestra and could see that they were about to start playing him off. “A couple seconds more, please?” he begged, and the conductor lowered his baton, blatantly ignoring the show producer who was surely squawking in his ear. 

“So, _Supernatural_ gave me my love for directing but it also gave me something else.” He took a deep breath. “ _Supernatural_ gave me the love of my life.” The room was silent and Jensen looked over at Jared again. “But at the time, I was too afraid to claim him.” The gasps were audible. Jensen didn’t look away from Jared’s shocked face. “I invited him here tonight, and I thought he hadn’t come. Imagine my surprise when he pitched up on stage.”

“Jen.” Jared’s eyes were wide. “You’re doing this now?” he hissed.

Jensen shrugged. “If by ‘this’ you mean completely humiliating myself in front of an audience of millions, then…yeah.” He smiled, shoulders suddenly light. “I’ve loved you for most of my adult life, J and it’s about time I was man enough to admit it.”

“Seriously?” Jared asked again. “ _Now_?”

“It’s why I invited you tonight,” Jensen said, walking up to him. He didn’t even notice the orchestra striking up. “To apologize for not telling the world about you and me. To ask you for one more chance.”

“I could be with someone,” Jared hedged, but he was inching closer to Jensen with a half-smile on his lips.

“You could be with me,” Jensen told him. “Forever. If you’ll have me.” And for the briefest moment Jensen felt the sheer terror of being rejected. Not because it was so fucking public, but because he just couldn’t imagine living one more moment without Jared in his life.

Jared must have read the fear because he cupped Jensen’s face in his huge hands. “You’re an asshole,” he told Jensen. “What took you so fucking long?”

“I’m an asshole?” Jensen suggested, and Jared threw his head back and laughed. If Jensen’s eyes burned a little then it was just his goddamn allergies.

The applause started slowly, building until the room shook with it. The cream of Hollywood were whistling and shouting and calling his name.

Jensen didn’t hear a thing. He was too busy kissing Jared.


End file.
